Bank of America Plaza Sold for $235 Million at Auction

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Plaza, the tallest
tower in the U.S. Southeast, was sold at a public auction today
on the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse after landlord
BentleyForbes missed mortgage payments.

The noteholder had a winning bid of $235 million, according
to attorney Howard Walker of McGuire Woods LLP, who ran the
auction. Holders of commercial mortgage bonds took ownership
through a “credit bid” placed by LNR Partners, David Levin
said in an e-mailed statement. Levin is vice chairman of Miami
Beach, Florida-based LNR Property LLC, the parent company of LNR
Partners, the tower’s special servicer.

BentleyForbes, based in Los Angeles, paid $436 million to
acquire the 55-story Atlanta skyscraper in 2006 from Bank of
America Corp. and Cousins Properties Inc. in the city’s biggest
property deal. Since the property market peaked a year after the
purchase, the 1.25 million-square-foot (116,000-square-meter)
building’s value has tumbled with tenants, including namesake
Bank of America, reducing space.

Atlanta has the highest rate of late payments for loans on
offices bundled into bonds among the largest U.S. metropolitan
areas, at 25.3 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
That’s an increase from 10.4 percent a year ago and is more than
triple the 7 percent national rate.

The $363 million Bank of America Plaza loan became
delinquent in December after BentleyForbes stopped making
payments. The loan was partly packaged inside JPMCC 2006-LDP9,
which was downgraded by Fitch Ratings in December because of
expected losses.